Virat Kohli remains India’s most valuable celebrity with brand value of $186 million

Cricketer Virat Kohli topped the charts for the fifth year in a row as the most valued celebrity in India at a brand valuation of $185.7 million in 2021 even as he resigned from ODI and T20 captaincy. This was revealed in the Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2021 released by Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business.

Actor Ranveer Singh moved up the rank with a brand value of $158.3 million at the second spot, while Akshay Kumar came down to the third position with a brand value of $139.6 million. Emerging as the most valued female celebrity, Alia Bhatt moved up two ranks with a brand value of $68.1 million at the fourth slot.

Even post his retirement from international cricket, MS Dhoni entered the top-5 club ranking fifth witnessing a spike in his brand value in 2021 to $61.2 million with 25 brands in his kitty. Other celebrities among the top ten included Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Salman Khan, Ayushmann Khurrana and Hrithik Roshan.

Kohli’s popularity

“Brand Kohli has gone through its share of uncertainties and concerns with his resignations from the captaincy and associated exchanges with BCCI . That did lead to a decline in value compared to 2020. However his endorsement portfolio remains stable with over 30 brands. Also, his social media following witnessed tremendous growth in 2021 of over 60 per cent resulting in over 256 million followers. Now that he is not captain across formats, there is an increased risk in terms of how his brand value gets sustained. His on-the-field performance will play a major role in determining his rankings in the future,” Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business told BusinessLine.

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The overall brand value of the top 20 celebrities in 2021 is estimated at $1.2 billion, an increase of about 12.9 per cent from last year indicating a strong recovery in pandemic times and all thanks to emerging new age companies in segments such as fintech, direct-to-consumer and crypto brands.

New-age brands

“2021 also saw the emergence and growth of several start-ups in the fintech and direct-to-consumer (D2C) business segments that significantly contributed to the overall number of brand endorsements undertaken by the top 20 celebrities,” said Varun Gupta Managing Director & Asia Pacific Leader, Valuation Advisory Services, Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business.  

“These well-funded new-age companies have led to a significant growth in the number of endorsements of the top 20 celebrities, increasing by over 50 per cent from 2020, and constituting about 12 per cent in the overall brand portfolio,” he added.

In a year when the Tokyo Olympics and IPL was successfully held and the film industry was adversely impacted by the pandemic-induced restrictions, sportspersons witnessed a significant jump in endorsement deals.

“We also saw more sportspersons rising in the top celebrity rankings, including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, and PV Sindhu. This significant jump was due to the lesser competition from Bollywood celebrities since there were fewer theatrical releases in 2021,” explained Jain.

While Tendulkar was ranked 11, Sharma was at the 13 and Sindhu emerged as the new entrant in the top-20 most valued celebs list.

The cumulative number of product brand endorsements by the top 20 celebrities increased to 376 in 2021, reflecting a reasonable recovery and growth from 357 product brands in 2020. This growth was also driven by endorsements in new-age companies such as fintech brands, crypto platforms and D2C brand. This represents a CAGR of 8.4 per cent over the last five years growing from 272 product brands in 2017, the report noted

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